A strange space. Sa-yoon stood in the center of statues that did nothing except remain motionless after announcing they would begin the inquisition, and examined where he was standing.
In the sky without a ceiling, seven massive stars shone, and in the center, words that seemed to be written in light appeared.
The place you stand upon is the world.
The place you stand inverted is hell.
The place your raised hand touches is heaven.
Enter where angels blow trumpets and demons dance.
Curses to the most virtuous
Blessings to the most wicked.
Fate, and fate.
Eternal fate repeats itself as the head bites the tail
Revelation. This is revelation.
A chill ran down his spine for no reason. His body trembled as if the forgotten emotion of fear had been revived. His gaze, which had fallen without reason, now discovered words written beneath his feet.
I writhe in agony while looking at the sky
By sacred enlightenment, I watch over the earth
Salvation is nowhere and everywhere at once.
“……”
His mouth opened and closed, but no voice came out. He couldn’t even twitch a finger. Sa-yoon collapsed helplessly, overwhelmed by the pressure of something supremely powerful weighing on his shoulders. He didn’t even dare resist. If anyone were to directly experience this formless power that could only be described as awe-inspiring, they would react no differently than him.
It was then that a snake emerged from behind him.
The massive snake crawled up Sa-yoon’s body as he knelt there, and with a slithering motion, covered his eyes with its black scales.
Flap!
The sound of something flapping its wings was heard.
Aaaah.
From somewhere came a singing that could only be described as divine.
Then followed the sound of trumpets, the laughter of infinitely young children, and songs from boys with beautiful voices.
Drrrrr.
The space shook. Then once again, boom! A thunderous sound was heard. Sa-yoon, unable to see, waited uncomfortably for something to begin.
Sa-yoon.
At the voice calling his name with familiarity, Sa-yoon was startled. Being called like that by a solemn and resonant voice was something he couldn’t get used to. Regardless, the voice called Sa-yoon once more.
Sa-yoon.
Child who resembles the sun.
Foolish sinner.
One syllable, one syllable. With each accumulation of the voice, the vibration that seemed to shake the world intensified. The singing echoed more loudly through the space. The voice had now grown from one to two.
Sa-yoon.
And then doubled again.
Sa-yoon.
From four voices to five.
Child who resembles the sun.
Kuhuk!
Sa-yoon groaned, feeling as if someone was squeezing his body tight with each voice he heard. Kwadeudeuk! The snake covering his eyes squeezed Sa-yoon’s body with all its might. As he trembled, unable to breathe, something soft touched his cheek.
It felt like a feather.
Foolish sinner.
Crack!
It seemed his bones had finally broken from the snake’s constriction. Sa-yoon exhaled sharply with his mouth open, unable to even scream at the brutal sound from his own body. But the gods were merciless. They continued their business regardless of whether Sa-yoon was writhing in agony.
Did you twist the balance?
What the hell are you talking about?
He hadn’t understood what they were saying from the beginning. This situation was simply bewildering to Sa-yoon, so he had no words to respond. At that moment, the snake’s constriction intensified.
“Kkeuk!”
Sa-yoon bit his lip hard, swallowing his scream. The metallic taste of blood filled his mouth.
Did you twist the balance, summoning a being from the future to the present world, causing chaos?
Again, what does that even mean?
He wanted to protest out of frustration. He had been hearing incomprehensible words from the start, and even if he wanted to respond, he could only ask what nonsense they were speaking.
Ugh. Sa-yoon tightly closed his eyes, feeling his broken bones piercing his organs. Because he didn’t answer, the snake squeezed him even more tightly, as if to execute him. He couldn’t breathe. As Sa-yoon’s face turned purple from near suffocation, he finally remembered the message displayed by the system.
‘Survive the inquisition.’
I see.
It seemed he could truly die in this inquisition.
If he didn’t answer their questions, they would really kill him.
Die.
Sa-yoon curled his lips upward. That was exactly what he wanted.
Gods, they called themselves?
With trembling eyes, he painfully looked up at the giant statues. Though they seemed too shabby to be called gods, he could tell through his instincts, honed over ten years, that this wasn’t their true form.
But still, gods are gods.
Incomparable to humans and monsters.
If such beings killed him, might he finally meet true death?
Boom!
The spear tip struck the ground once more.
You’re having foolish thoughts.
Even if you die here, your soul will not end. As long as your soul exists, you must perpetuate the fate given to you…
You speak too much.
Was it excessive?
It was.
I see.
Just say one thing, you bastards.
They speak to me, then talk among themselves—it’s a complete mess.
Having missed an opportunity to gain information because of this, Sa-yoon inwardly clicked his tongue and closed his mouth.
As long as the soul lives, one must perpetuate the given fate?
This new nonsense confused his mind. The gods began the inquisition again. The question was a continuation of what they had asked before. Since it was full of incomprehensible talk about twisting balance and invading the future, Sa-yoon burst into laughter. It seems one can laugh if they want to, even with a crushed and broken body. As long as he could endure the pain of bones digging into his organs, he could laugh heartily, so Sa-yoon roared with laughter.
His maniacal laughter drowned out the singing. The statues asked, seemingly displeased.
What is so funny?
“The sight of you all is funny.”
Blasphemous.
Kwaaak!
The snake’s constriction became incomparably more intense than before. Now Sa-yoon’s spine had completely lost its shape. His body was twisted, and his muscles collapsed. His formless body could only be crushed and contracted as the snake squeezed.
Yet Sa-yoon didn’t stop laughing.
“Whatever it is, something in your plan must have gone wrong, right? I thought you were omnipotent, but seeing you holding down a single human like this, you seem quite incompetent.”
The horrific pain actually awakened his reason, which had been blurred by confronting eternal beings, and stimulated the anger hidden by fear.
They are gods. Yes, they are those damned gods.
The gods who had thrown his life into terrible mire.
Should he show them respect? Should he fear when there’s nothing more to lose? Should he feel terror when even death isn’t frightening?
No. What he needed to do wasn’t to cower pathetically and tremble in fear, but to mock and ridicule those damned figures he’d wanted to strike even once.
How else could this resentment be resolved?
Ten years and about another ten years.
More than 30% of his life had been forced repetitions through over ten thousand deaths.
If he could vent even a little of the anger, injustice, and despair accumulated over that long time to them, if he could curse them to vent his frustration even as his body was being destroyed, how could he hold back?
“Yes, I wanted to ask when we met. I wanted to at least ask.”
Sa-yoon muttered to himself like a madman. The statues frowned and questioned again.
Foolish sinner. Answer the question. Did you twist the timeline?
“Why me.”
Sa-yoon answered the question with another question. The dialogue didn’t mesh, like two straight lines drawn in the same direction.
“Why was it me?”
He thought he would lose his reason and shout in rage if such an opportunity came, but surprisingly, the voice coming from his mouth was calm. Sa-yoon privately reflected on the past time. From the moment he first received the system window and learned about the nature they had assigned him, up until now.
It seems that when anger overflows too much, one becomes calm instead. Feeling his boiling mind cool down, Sa-yoon opened his mouth.
“Why, of all people, was it me?”
Raising his head, Sa-yoon glared directly at where the statues were located. His persistent gaze seemed to penetrate through the snake’s scales. The gods did not answer. Boom! As one statue struck the floor again, they merely repeated the same words.
Just asking if he had twisted the timeline.
“Fuck! If you’ve been watching, you should know it wasn’t my doing, you damn bastards!”
Sa-yoon shouted, his temperature rising at these beings who completely ignored his questions and pushed only their own agenda. At that, the statues finally quieted. It was while an angry Sa-yoon was breathing heavily due to his excited emotions and pain.
The scale has not tilted. Your words are true.
Scale?
Slightly turning his head, he finally noticed that one of the statues was holding a scale.
Let us give a reward.
The gods, who nodded to each other once, took one step closer to Sa-yoon. And then another step, and another. Sa-yoon felt they had come close to him even without seeing it. Close enough to be crushed under their massive feet at any moment.
The shadows of the statues overlapped, covering Sa-yoon. A black sky formed above his head.
You asked why it was you?
Sa-yoon. Foolish sinner.
Young lamb resembling the sun.
For the first time, the seven voices merged.
It is because that is the fate we designated for the sinner.
What?
Sa-yoon’s pupils dilated within the black scales. Just as anger surged at words that were not only unjust but could be seen as absurd, all seven statues simultaneously stamped the ground with a thud.
The singing grew louder.
The children’s laughter had now changed to voices reciting prayers.
The inquisition is over, and we bless the sinner who bears fate.
The inquisition is over, and we curse the hero who bears fate.
The inquisition is over, and we sing for the world that fulfills fate.
Those lyrics repeated. Hundreds of times over and over. Feeling his mind grow confused the more he heard the song, Sa-yoon instinctively realized.
That the inquisition was over, and he would return to the original world.
Ha.
In the end, all he gained was new anger.
Sliiither.
The snake covering his eyes descended. Sa-yoon confirmed that a black hole had formed beneath him and raised his head to look at the seven statues.
Let’s meet again.
One statue smiled sinisterly, forecasting a second meeting.
Hwaaak!
The black hole pulled Sa-yoon with a strong force. Helplessly dragged by an irresistible power, Sa-yoon gritted his teeth as he watched the world with the divine statues close.
The face of the statue that had first struck the ground with its spear appeared last.
Stay right there, you bastards.
Because someday I’ll come back to smash even those fake bodies of yours.
Grinding his teeth ferociously, Sa-yoon took a breath as he felt light rush into his sight.
It was the most disgusting ending among his more than ten thousand deaths.
***
<System error has been improved.>
<The updated system, Apocalypse, changes to Apocalypse(1) and is sequentially applied to the world.>
<Apocalypse will update from 1 to 10. Good luck to the Saviors.>
<And blessings to humanity’s evil. (b ᵔ▽ᵔ)b>
The first thing he saw when he opened his eyes was the system window.
“Sa-yoon!”
And the first voice he heard was that of a familiar man. Sa-yoon briefly took his eyes off the system window to look at the man. It was Lee Jaehee.
“You’re awake. Everyone was worried you might not wake up.”
Everyone?
At those words, Sa-yoon checked where he was lying. A familiar space.
It was the Night Rats guild.
What’s going on?
Though bewildered, there was something he needed to check first. Sa-yoon tried to get up from the bed but frowned as his entire body ached. Jaehee advised him to lie still because his body wasn’t well. Narrowing his brow at that, Sa-yoon was satisfied with just raising his upper body and quickly looked around.
Not there.
“Where’s Han Geon-joo?”
His voice was low. When he asked because he couldn’t see the only gain from the crazed gate saturation scene, Jaehee’s shoulders flinched.
No way.
Sa-yoon narrowed his eyes with an ominous feeling. Under his scrutinizing gaze, the man sighed and opened his mouth.
“He disappeared.”
“…What?”
Disappeared?
Sa-yoon’s pupils dilated. Then they immediately contracted with anger.
Disappeared. This bastard ran away again?
Fuck, I should have cut off his ankle the day we met. Angrily clenching his fist, Jaehee poured tea and handed it to him.
“I’m telling you this because you might misunderstand, but Geon-joo didn’t run away on his own. I was by his side the whole time, and he suddenly disappeared while unconscious.”
“He disappeared while unconscious?”
“Yes. As if he teleported. I happened to see it, but… hmm.”
Jaehee stopped speaking and briefly closed his mouth. Then, kuluk, he coughed up blood once and wiped his mouth with a tissue.
Sa-yoon looked at that scene in disbelief.
“Before Geon-joo disappeared, a system window appeared in front of him. I couldn’t see what kind of window it was, but don’t you think the system forcibly made him disappear?”
Is this guy casually revealing divine secrets right now?
He did it so naturally that I almost didn’t notice. Sa-yoon was speechless for a moment, forgetting even about Han Geon-joo, but then ran his hand through his hair at the suggestion that the system had taken him.
So you’re saying he didn’t run away on his own, but the system forcibly relocated him.
But why?
It was while he was expressing doubt.
<To activate or view information about the trait ‘Resister’, the following trait holder is required. (º □ º l|l)>
-Supreme Being Under Heaven
[Quest – First Step Toward Activation]
- Type: Resister Quest
- Participants: (1/2)
- ‘Reunite with the trait holder.’
- Details: Reunite with the holder of the Supreme Being Under Heaven trait
- Reward: Ability to proceed to Second Step Toward Activation
A quest window that seemed both familiar and newly revised appeared before Sa-yoon’s eyes.
A quest window where “Flow Distorter” had disappeared, leaving only “Supreme Being Under Heaven.”
“Ha.”
Sa-yoon let out a hollow laugh.
“Things are getting interesting.”